Lenny Megliola column: Faith in the NBA has nosedived

Tim Donaghy has done something terribly stupid, something morally wrong. A little man with a whistle (a dangerous weapon in this case) has put an entire league under a cloud of suspicion.

By Lenny Megliola

Let's say you're at a Celtics-Hawks game next season (only because someone gave you the tickets), or you're watching an NBA game on TV (only because you're lonely, very lonely), and referee B makes a call: a foul, traveling, whatever, that no one can believe.

And you'll be thinking ...

Even referees A and C look mystified.

And you'll be thinking ...

How many times have you seen a call made in the NBA which results in the three refs stopping play while they discuss a possible reversal of an apparent blown call? You'll be seeing that again this season, probably more of it.

And you'll be thinking ...

Tim Donaghy.

Donaghy has done something terribly stupid, something morally wrong. A little man with a whistle (a dangerous weapon in this case) has put an entire league under a cloud of suspicion, a league that could use some positive PR because it already has too many bums. It doesn't need this.

Donaghy will pay for this. You know who else will? The fraternity of officials he hung out to dry. The new refs who haven't been around long enough to shake hands with the devil, and the 20-25 year veterans who never dreamed of spinning a crooked game.

There will be honest calls they make next season that, depending what team the fans are cheering for or how many beers they've had, the referees are going to hear it from the paying customers. Cries of "Fix!" will swill down from the seats. "Who's your bookie?" some one might yell. Or: "Did you leave tickets for any members of the Gambino Family?" Some of the fans will be joking; some will be serious.

Just know this: Being an NBA ref just got a lot harder.

You know the bit about all you have to see of an NBA game is the last two minutes? Not true, but a lot of people (non-NBA fans) believe it.That's not the point here. The point is, from now on, every call made in the last two minutes of a CLOSE game will make you wonder what the whistle blower has on his mind. A legit call, or the two grand he bet on the outcome.

For years the NBA has been trying to clean up its act. Once, and not that long ago, the NBA was an arresting league. Lately, it's become a league of arrests. Players have been caught with drugs and guns; they've slapped people around. They've been reprimanded, fined, warned, jailed, or often they get off with a fine that makes no dent at all in their seven-figure salary. One of the deepest black eyes came on the basketball court. The NBA is still reeling from the frightening Pistons-Pacers scene two years ago.

But when a player is arrested off the court or a fight breaks out on it, it is a tangible thing. The evidence, most of it anyway, is there for you to see. Who hasn't seen the Pistons-Pacers brawl, or a player handcuffed and wisked to the local precinct?

That stuff is overt. Tim Donaghy's dirty little secret was covert, much, much harder to filter out. Now it's out there, and commissioner David Stern, usually self-assured and in charge, instead looked very much like a broken man, his heart certainly, when he spoke of his "rogue ... criminal." It is not a good thing when the NBA and the FBI have to work together.

Stern also called it "an isolated case." Until it happened, he might have considered it an impossible scenario. The "isolated case" part was Stern putting the only spin he could on the problem. He knows faith in his league has nosedived. While Stern has tried to police his players, it was one of his own who has committed a flagrant foul.

Lenny Megliola is a Daily News (Framingham, Mass.) columnist. His e-mail is lennymegs@aol.com.